Do I have Deco Corns?

[mark1101]

Sounds good, Mark. Hate to get down to minutia, but a have indents where the body of the stable slammed against the wood. Kind of like if you pressed your fingernail into a styrofoam cup to leave a little dent. Did you have any of those to deal with?

Well, I'm home now and looking at them I can still see a couple of tiny holes I missed, or decided not to mess with. I don't see indents from a stapler head or hammer or anything like that. But, do the math. '73 corns are how old? Mine do not look like the stunning ones posted earlier here. They don't look their age either, but you do see some anomalies.

I would venture to say that for mine, the only improvement in aesthetics worth the time would probably be a veneer job.

[colterphoto1]

Jeff, here's an idea, fill any DEEP holes from the staples with putty. If you fill the indents, you will highlight the problem becasue the stain will be across the grain in parts and it will show up even worse, especially across the top of the face.

You might try this on a scrap piece of wood first. (abuse in a similar fashion, putty holes, leave staple marks alone).

Apply putty to deep holes, leaving indents alone. lightly sand entire front, then apply poly to the face. After several coats of poly, it might fill in the indents. What is most noticable about the indents might be the way they diffract light, once filled in with the clear poly, you have a flat surface that reflects light the same, but is not highlighted by the addition of putty to those areas.

Michael

[Marvel]

Okay, instead of trying to steam out the dents (which is what the

staples have done) read the following. I found this on the Lansing

Heritage forums (you use methanol and water, and no steaming):

To All:

In a properly ventilated area, with latex gloves, its soooo easy to

swell the veneer. I assumed everyone would have the proper respect for

solvents and treat them accordingly.

However on the tech side, while yes you have to be careful, I used

methanol-water (about 10% water/90% meoh) and light swipes to swell the

wood grain prior to sanding this week.

It worked so well I lightly swelled all sides, then sanded with various

grades of wet/dry sandpaper. It made for a set of beautiful enclosures.

It really brought out the burling in my speaker enclosures. If its not

your gig, so be it; but I've been a polymer chemist for 27 years; and

it worked for me. I have no fear of solvents; as I use them all the

time in a GMP environment. You just have to avoid dangerous vapor

concentrations/conditions.

In a previous life I had used tung oil on my L100's. Here I've had to

use "lab blend", which contains a lot of acetone. I can post the mix

later. It too with slight added amounts of water can swell the wood

easily . However, a "neat" (undiluted) application easily stripped the

tung oil and all surface finishes--waxes etc, with a little elbow

grease. It quickly dries without damaging the veneer adhesion;

literally in a matter of seconds. Prior to solvent re-application, I

waited 30 to 45 minutes to avoid any chance of delamination. Here I

used gloves specifically recommended for acetone, and did the work in

my ventilated garage door up, side door open. The acetone-lab blend

when applied removed ~90% of the water stain I had on the top of 1

enclosure, light sanding got the rest. Perfect job on my wife's 20 year

old water stain!!

While some (on the forum) might recommend against it; it worked

beautifully for me. A caveat..my L-100s were in immaculate condition

except for minor scratches. They have no veneer damage or lifting after

~32 years. After treatment I sanded with 220/320/ 400/600/0000 steel

wool. The L-100s were then smooth and ready for Watco.

On the top edges and side edges, I clamped 2" ash stringers (after felt

lining the wood surface that went against the box (3M 77). The felt

lined surfaces went against the box, and lined up with the top edges.

In that way, the sanding block did not creep over the edge and sand (ie

round over) the veneer edges.

Worked for me; just remember If you're a smoker..not while you've got the solvents out.

In writing this post, prior to knocking it; remember the paint removers

you've used in the past. Far more nasty; as this doesn't require

methylene chloride like they use.

BTW, the amount of time per speaker enclosure from swell to sand

220/320/400/600/ 0000 steel wool? <2.5 hours per enclosure to

completely scratch free; ready-to-stain. The Watco oil finish will take

much longer to get an even, fully saturated application. Great results

seen on an enclosure in one evening!

=======

Elsewhere in the trhead, guys used this technique on deeper dents as well.

Bruce